Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to perspiration absorption devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to disposable perspiration absorption liners adapted to fit within a bra and provide vertical support to a user's breasts.
Many women have a tendency to perspire around their bra line, especially when under stress, at work, or when performing physical activity. Excessive unwanted perspiration can result in embarrassing odors, sweat stains, or eventually discoloration of the surrounding clothes. Excessive perspiration can also lead to the need to constantly wash the affected bras, which increases the amount of wear and tear on those bras and thus requires that they be replaced more often. It can be expensive to have to constantly replace worn down bras, especially for women with a unique bra size who must specially order bras to fit their specific measurements.
Current inventions seek to address the problem of excessive bra line perspiration in a number of ways. Some inventions provide a single, elongated pad designed to be placed between the bra and the individual's breasts. This type of pad is often very uncomfortable, however, and can be difficult to properly place. Other types of perspiration-absorbent pads use straps or adhesives to keep the pad secured in position, but these can be uncomfortable to wear or, in the case of adhesives, leave a residue on the user's skin. Finally, antiperspirants are also available, but they are not one hundred percent effective compared to pads, which wick all of the perspiration that their volume can hold away from the body.
The present invention addresses all of the issues inherent to the prior devices designed to combat perspiration around the bra line, while also providing additional features. The present disposable push-up bra liner is extremely comfortable to wear, as it merely sits within the bra cup and is not an additional article that the user must strap, wrap, or otherwise attach to her body. The present invention is also easily secured to the bra because it is simply removably attached by the adhesive layer to the inside of the bra cup. The present disposable push-up bra liner also is specifically designed to target the areas where most of the perspiration along the bra line accumulates, thereby avoiding embarrassing stains from perspiration soaking through the woman's garment. Finally, the present invention provides an additional benefit not seen in the prior art of disposable bra liners in that it also provides a lifting or vertical support effect for the user's breasts. This feature is useful for women who wish to convert their conventional bra into a push-up bra, while simultaneously dealing with unsightly bra line perspiration.
Description of the Prior Art
Devices have been disclosed in the prior art that relate to perspiration absorption devices. These include devices that have been patented and published in patent application publications. These devices generally relate to pads or liners to absorb perspiration that fit under articles of clothing, over regions of the body that are most likely to produce perspiration. The following is a list of devices deemed most relevant to the present disclosure, which are herein described for the purposes of highlighting and differentiating the unique aspects of the present invention, and further highlighting the drawbacks existing in the prior art.
One such device is U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,162 to Yanagihara, which discloses a disposable perspiration absorption pad. Yanagihara has an adhesive layer adapted to be applied directly to the body and is designed to cover any portion of the body that the user wishes. Like the present invention, Yanagihara seeks to prevent embarrassing perspiration stains or discoloration from marring an individual's clothing, but the present is specifically designed to be placed within a bra, while also converting normal bras into push-up bras by adding vertical support to the user's breasts.
Another such device is U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,255 to Abercrombie, which discloses a disposable brassiere perspiration liner. Abercrombie comprises an elongated liner portion that extends underneath the breasts of the user and has a raised middle portion to capture additional perspiration between the breasts. The elongated liner portion is contoured to hold the user's breasts. The liner has an adhesive backside portion that is designed to removably adhere to the user's bra and hold the liner in position. The present invention is also a bra perspiration liner, but it is adapted to fit within the individual bra cups, rather than extending across the entire base of the bra. Furthermore, the present invention is designed to provide additional vertical support to breasts, essentially converting a normal bra to a push-up bra, which is a feature that Abercrombie lacks.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,138,276 to Asciutto discloses another such device, an underarm perspiration shield. Asciutto describes a perspiration-absorbing pad that has an attached strap that can fit over an individual's shoulder, positioning the pad over the individual's armpit. Like Asciutto, the present invention is specifically targeted to absorb perspiration from a specific area of the body. Unlike Asciutto, the present invention uses adhesive as the means of securing the liner in place, not a strap, and further is specifically adapted to fit within a bra cup, not around an armpit.
Another such device is U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,399 to Hackney, which discloses an elongated perspiration absorption pad that is adapted to be situated between the cups of a bra. Unlike Abercrombie, which has a raised middle portion to capture additional perspiration from the breasts, Hackney has a notch in the center of the elongated pad that allows the absorption pad to be ideally positioned between the cups of the bra. Even a well-positioned elongated pad is awkward and uncomfortable to wear, however. The present invention is more comfortable to wear because it comprises two or three separate components, depending upon the embodiment, which may independently be placed and ideally positioned for maximum comfort.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,341,377 to Faries discloses a perspiration-absorbing pad that has an absorbent layer and a gel layer that can adhere to skin. The absorbent layer can absorb perspiration and the gel layer closes skin pores that it comes into contact with, thereby preventing perspiration from forming in the area. The pad is designed to be placed between adjacent skin surfaces, such as under the breast. The present invention rests directly against the user's skin to absorb unwanted perspiration, unlike Faries. Furthermore, Faries is designed to be used independently of a bra or any other clothing, whereas the present invention is specifically designed to work in cooperation with a bra.
The present invention provides a new and unique perspiration-absorbent, disposable bra liner that is specifically designed to fit within a bra cup. The present disposable bra liner has an adhesive side for removably securing the pad within the bra cup and an absorbent side. The present liners may also have an adhesive wing that folds around the underwire of the bra as an additional means of securement. The present invention is also designed to be thicker in certain areas, providing vertical support to a woman's breasts as if she were wearing a push up bra. The present disposable bra liner substantially diverges in design elements from the prior art and consequently it is clear that there is a need in the art for an improvement to existing perspiration-absorbing devices. In this regard the instant invention substantially fulfills these needs.